phdto-uthogftapher



(No Model.) I

' S. P. MACK.

Corn She-Her.

No. 236,169. I P tented Jan. 4,1ssL

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PETERS, PHOTO-UTHOGMPHER, WASHINGTON. D Q

. ries with the size of each ear of corn.

UNITED grates STEPHEN F. MACK, OF ITHAOA, NEW YORK.

CORN-SHELLER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 236,169, dated January 4, 1881.

Application filed June 28, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN FERRIS MACK, resident of Ithaca, Tompkins county, New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gorn-Shellers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that kind of machine which, by a toothed wheel, rotates the ears of corn against an edged plate. The wheel is the base or frustum of a cone and the shelling or rotating teeth are on the cone sides of the frustum.

My invention relates, first, to the plate that holds the ears of corn, while they are being shelled, to the wheel; second, to the manner in which the wheel is placed on its shaft.

These will be apparent as I describe and claim what I have invented.

Figure l is the left-hand end elevation of my machine, the turning-crank being on the front of the machine. Fig.2 is a view of the top of the feed-spout, looking down on it, the spring resting against an arm cast as part of the plate. Other detached figures indicate by their letters the uses of the parts they represent.

In the figures, A A is a wooden frame that supports the various parts, and constitutes, by closing with boards the spaces about the running parts, a case for the same; and B is the shelling-wheel, its shape the frustum of a cone, and its conical surface thickly covered with teeth, as shown. This wheel is loose on a square shaft, or one with a web in a slot in the wheel, or with any other similar device which causes the wheel to revolve, and yet does not interfere with or impede its motion lengthwise on the shaft; also, on the shaft, in the place shown, is a spring, 0, the action of which is to thrust the wheel, by its hub c, toward the shaft box or bearings c. This is for the purpose of allowing the wheel to be selfadjusting to various-sized ears of corn, for the bar-edge f of the plate f is ever fixed, because by the screws or bolts at f that plate is fast to the top board, 0, of the machine, and to shell well the wheel must be adjustable to the various sizes of cars of corn, which, as I have said, I accomplish by making the wheel so that it slides on the shaft D, and thus va- The (No model.)

shaft D of the wheel B is turned by the drank d, fast to the cog-wheel cl, there being cogs on the inside of the hollow driver 01.

The feed-spout is with more difficulty represented in the figures and explaineda fact not peculiar to the drawings of this case, but unavoidable in all corn-shellers. It is construeted of three parts.

First, the plate f. This is a flat plate set perpendicularly in the machine, and has another flat plate cast fast to it at, or nearly at, right angles to the main plate, and the use of this elbow part is to fasten this part of the spout to the top of the machine by the bolts or screws f, asshown in Fig. 2. Its adjustment and use is no novelty of mine, it being longin public use, and hence Ineed notattempt any explanation of its action in shelling any further than to say that in a machine like mine it is essential that the ears of corn be rotated against the lower or bar edge, f, of this plate f. To its top, atf, I cast fast to it an ear, to which I hinge the spring-plate t'. (Seen in section in Fig. 1, and more fully in Fig. 2.)

Second, the next part of the feed-spout is the base-plate y. This is a mere tubular portion or hollow trough, whose sole action is to guide the ears of corn down upon the wheel B.

Third, the plate fhas already been in part described. The plates fandjare both fast by screws to the top of the machine, and constitute fixed walls for about two-thirds of the extent of the funnel-shaped spout, which is,as shown, nearly round, though flattened on its sides. At its lower end the spout is more nearly round, and is so shaped as to fit the wheel B, as seen in Fig. 1. v

The spring-platet'of the spout deserves a little more attention. It will be seen that I hinge it by the ear to an ear of the plate f corresponding thereunto, and a bolt hinges the ears together, as shown. To the plate f, I also make fast a link, t', which extends over and to the rear of the feed-spout, as shown in Fig. 1, where it sustainscthe spiral spring 2", which bears on the back of the plate 71, a stud being cast for it on the back of the plate,-and a thumb-nut adjusts the pressureofthis spring. The plate 2' is an inverted hollow or trough, making a cover that completes the funnelshaped feed-spout. The use of this spring and plate is to hold the ears of corn in contact with the wheel B, and it acts in unison with the spring 0 on the shaft D of these parts. By the detached figures the shape of these several parts is shown as clearly as can be.

At an is the frequently used elastic rubber curtain, with slits in it, that lets the shelled cobs out. of the machine and retains the corn.

The several detached views show the various portions of the feed-spout, the plates being in various positions, and they need no further remark.

The link 1 Figs. 1 and 2, maybe cast solid with the plate f, or be made preferably a loose link, as shown; and that the parts of the spout may be more clearly identified, there are marks placed on them, which, of course, it will be understood are not on the actual machine, and these marks are single lines for the plate 2', a cross for the plate j, and a double cross for the plate f.

The advantages and uses of my machine are apparent to those skilled in the art to which it appertains.

I claim 1. The spiral spring 2", bearing on the back of the plate 1' and held to the plate f by the link or arm 1, as set forth.

2. A spring, 0, on the shaft D of the main or drive \vheel B, in combination with a spring, i, bearing on the movable part or plate i of the feed-spout, whereby the adjustment of the wheel B to large ears of corn is made by the spring O, and the lesser adjustment to ears of corn is made by the spring 1'', as set forth.

STEPHEN FER tIS MACK.

\Vitnesses:

S. J. PARKER, J OHN S. W ATERMAN. 

